Sorry I have been so Lax (pun intended) in posting recently. That said, I have had some great finds.

Earlier this week, I found a minty, yellow Dansk Kobenstyle paella pan at a local thrift store. This will get added to my always growing collection of Scandinavian enamelware. I can’t get enough of it. Best of all, there is plenty of it out there for the finding.

Today, I thought I’d present a little enamelware photo-essay. Many of these items are abundant and can be found easily and inexpensively. Some, however, remain elusive and expensive.

I’ve had a few exciting finds lately including a Florence Knoll Model 65 lounge chair (that I pulled out of the garbage) and a Dieter Rams/Hans Gugelot Braun radio/phonograph console in a spectacular teak case designed by Herbert Hirche. I will be photographing these items this weekend and be posting shortly.

In the mean time, I thought I’d telll you the Story about my Austin Enterprises chess set and show you the nifty Austin Enterprises “Hang Up Sculpture” I got this weekend. For those of you unfamiliar with Austin Cox and his fantastic anodized aluminum chess set, here are a few images.

Austin Enterprises- Chess Pieces

Box

Box with Cover Removed

The set was commissioned in 1962 by ALCOA to designer-craftsman Austin E. Cox A.S.I.D. of “Austin Enterprises” and the advertising agency of Ketchum, McLeod & Grove. The pieces are modern in form-the Queen represented by a crown, the bishop is a cross, the knight is a shield and the King, is fittingly, the symbol of ALCOA.

Last summer, I stumbled on one of these sets in its original wood and blue plexiglas hanging display case on Craigslist for $40. I was excited, but there were a couple of issues that had me concerned. First off, the set was in Roslyn, which is a 40-minute drive from NYC. Second, instead of using the traditional dollar bill or Campbells soup can to show scale, the seller used a handgun….a GLOCK no less. I KID YOU, NOT!

Well, for a $40 Austin Enterprises chess set, I am willing to assume certain risks. A scary sounding, gun-owning seller, is one of them. I drove with my wife and two small daughters to the house, parked around the corner and told my wife if I wasn’t back in 20 minutes to call the police. Fortunately, I was put a ease when I was greeted at the door by a nice looking older man. His son’s Bar-Mitvah picture hanging in the hallway was a reassuring sign.

Alas, my wife didn’t have a need to call the police and I walked away with a chess set I had been wanting for a long time. This weekend at the yard sales, I scored a very interesting Austin Enterprises “Hang Up Sculptural Puzzle”. This immediately reminded me of the chess set/GLOCK story.

Austin Enterprises- Sculptural Puzzle

It is also crafted of anodized aluminum. This time, in blue and orange and it comes in a wood hanging case.

Blue and Orange Anodized Pieces

According to the text on the back of the box, “the challenge is to arrange the twenty five triangles to form a perfect square”. Apparently, it is rarer than the chess sets and even better, “the solution dates back to the Pythagorean Theorem” Looks like I have a little puzzle to solve in the near future.

A couple of years ago I found my first Boltabest tray at a thrift store in Florida. It was the large version of the infamous China Shop pattern designed by Irving Harper for The George Nelson Studio.

As I am a collector by nature, I was not satisfied with just one. Turning to my good friend the world wide intraweb, I have since been able to round up several more.

While these were used as cafeteria trays in the 1950’s, it appears that Bolta, the company that manufactured the trays, chose to use designs by several well known industrial and textile designers.

There are these two below, also attributed to Nelson and/or his design studio

Then there is the “Wheels” tray designed by Bernard Rudofsky
The “Babylonia” tray designed by Abel Sorenson
Lastly, there is the mystery “Tempo” tray below, currently on Ebay.
I found a version of this in red last year and have wondered for some time who might have designed the pattern.

For an interesting discussion on these trays, check out the following thread on one of my favorite forums Designaddict